Agulla protomaculata

Agulla protomaculata is an extinct species of snakefly in the raphidiid genus Agulla. The species is solely known from the Middle Eocene, Lutetian stage, Parachute Member, part of the Green River Formation, in the Piceance Creek Basin and Uinta Basin, Garfield County, northwestern Colorado, USA.[1]

Agulla protomaculata
Temporal range: Lutetian 47 Ma
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Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Raphidioptera
Family: Raphidiidae
Genus: Agulla
Species:
†A. protomaculata
Binomial name
†Agulla protomaculata
Engel, 2011

History and classification

The species is known from a series of eighteen fossils, the holotype, three paratype females, ten male paratypes, and three paratypes of indeterminate sex. The holotype, number "USNM 31487", is a single female specimen consisting of part and counterpart fossils. All of the type specimens plus an additional male specimen tentatively identified as belonging to A. protomaculata are currently preserved in the Department of Paleobiology collections housed in the National Museum of Natural History, located in Washington, D.C., USA.[1] A. protomaculata was first studied by Michael S. Engel of the University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, USA. His 2009 type description of the new species was published in the journal Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science.[1] Engel coined the specific epithet protomaculata as a combination of the Latin word "protos" meaning "first" and "macula" meaning "mark".[1] At least one other specimen is known and was figured in a 1995 publication by Dayvault et al, but that specimen is thought to still be in the private collection of William Hawes. At the time of the species description, Agulla protomaculata was the only member of the order Raphidioptera to be described from the Green River Formation.[1]

Description

Specimens of Agulla protomaculata average 8.33 millimetres (0.328 in) in length not including the ovipositor in the females.[1] Overall the species was a dark brown to brown coloration, with the legs shading from light brown to a yellow tone. The head is dark brown with extensive yellow coloration including yellow stripes along the sides and to the rear of the eyes, and a central stripe of yellow running down the center of the head behind the eyes.[1] In females the gentility curved ovipositor is light brown and ranges between 3.47 and 3.8 millimetres (0.137 and 0.150 in) in length. The wings are hyaline in coloration with a slight darkening of the pterostigma and averaging 7.42 millimetres (0.292 in) long for the fore-wings. The vein structure of the fore-wing and notably the length and placement of the M vein in the hind-wing indicate the species to be a member of the genus Agulla.[1]

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References
  1. Engel, Michael S. (2011). "A new snakefly from the Eocene Green River Formation (Raphidioptera: Raphidiidae)". Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science. 114 (1–2): 77–87. doi:10.1660/062.114.0107.
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